Originally scheduled in a feature bout with veteran Shad Smith, Beal found out that they’d be stepping into the show’s main event after both headlining fighters went down with injury.

“It doesn’t matter whether I fight first or last,” said Beal. “This is the second time I’ve become the main event for him, so they know they can call on me and I’ll perform.”

It’s in his performance that Beal was able to overcome the second issue, illness, and take the fight via unanimous decision to raise his record to 7-0.

“I think I performed as best I could with the situation I was in,” said Beal. “I was a little under the weather, a little sick, and that week I didn’t really train that hard because I had congestion in my chest and stuff.

“My striking was pretty good and I stayed away from anything he had to offer pretty much and took the fight where I wanted it to go. I landed a good amount of punches and elbows and in the end did pretty good. I still put a lot of damage on him.”

Beal feels with his performance in the fight that he’s proven he can make the most of a situation and defeat a veteran fighter with more experience than he has.

Should he continue on his current progression, bigger opportunities may not be that far off.

“I’m feeling good and just like I need to keep taking those baby steps,” he said. “I know at 100-percent or even like at 90-percent, I’ll be way better than that performance, so I’m pretty confident about taking that next step.

“I’m just going to relax the rest of this year and maybe fight in January. This was my fourth fight this year, so I want to rest my body a little bit, get strong and ready for 2013.”